Norman, D. A. (2007). The Design of Future Things. New York: Basic Books. (Expected publication date is November, 2007.)Drawing by Alison Wong [above right]. This is a placeholder for the real cover which is being designed by the publisher.

Draft Table of Contents:

(Please do not tell me about typographical errors -- these are drafts and will be rewritten and copyedited. Suggestions about content and corrections of factual errors are welcomed. Mail to jnd at jnd.org)

From except: We machines come from a very different world than people. It isn't easy tocommunicate with them: People take suggestions as criticism and getdefensive, and sometimes angry. They misinterpret our utterances, they ignoreus, or they overreact. Sometimes we just can't win.

Five Rules of Communication from Machines to People

Keep things simple.

Always give people a conceptual model.

Give reasons.

Continually reassure.

Make them think they are in control

People have difficulty with anything complicated and they don't like to listen.So make the message short. It's better not to use language. It takes too longand, anyway, human language is horribly ambiguous. Use "natural"communication systems. Basically, don't make people work to understandthings – make it immediately obvious – hence, "natural.".